Rumored XOM-PXD Is Sure Taking A Long Time To Play Out -- October 8, 2023

Locator: 45688XOM.

Link here.

The deal has been rumored for a long, long time but chatter seemed even greater this past week -- and yet, no news yet, mid-weekend. Having said that, these deals usually get announced Monday morning.

But.

From the linked story:

Ultimately, your view of this deal comes down to your view on oil prices. Pioneer has been so successful, in part, because a few years ago, when oil prices were a lot lower than they are now, they didn’t believe the naysayers saying that oil was finished, and that alternative energy was taking over. They took advantage of that conventional wisdom and went out and acquired assets in the Permian Basin while they were on sale. Exxon is now saying that they believe that oil will go even higher from here and, to borrow a phrase from the bond market, stay higher for longer.

However, believing that when crude is currently trading in a $80-$130 range is a lot less convincing when compared to the $40-$60 range it was in when PXD made those moves.

So, we'll see. 

XOM has $30 billion cash. 

The deal: $60 billion. 

Years ago, Warren Buffett / BRK bought BSNF (BNI) for $45 billion, if I recall correctly.